Alex Gallacher

Wes Tirey is our latest ‘Off the Shelf’ guest – he talks us through his shelf of objects – from homemade collages to a Lone Ranger guitar and Robert Johnson folk art. His 2019 whiskey-soaked folk opus ‘No Winners in the Blues’ is reissued on vinyl this week.

Next Friday sees the release of James Yorkston, Nina Persson and The Second Hand Orchestra’s new album The Great White Sea Eagle. Today, the group share their third song from the record, “The Harmony”.

Marry Waterson works her magic on an animated video for Ben Walker’s ‘Starlings’. It’s from his new album ‘Banish Air from Air’, which explores the relationship between humankind and nature and features a number of special guests, including Sam Lee and Nancy Kerr.

This month, Mason Lindahl heads out on his European Tour which includes a London date on 12th January. The New York City-based guitarist made his Tompkins Square debut with Kissing Rosy in the Rain in January 2021.

Best known as a long-standing member of the Glasgow outfit Butcher Boy, Alison Eales reveals her new video and single Fifty-Five North; taken from her forthcoming debut album ‘Mox Nox’ and also our Song of the Day.

NAKSHATRA is the debut album from Brooklyn, NY violinist duo Trina Basu & Arun Ramamurthy, a lush and spiritual collaboration that bridges traditions and defies genres.

Taken from his new ‘Covers’ EP, watch Jack Rutter performing ‘Small Northern Town’ live. His new EP also features covers of songs by Peter Gabriel, Dwight Yoakam and a Frank Kidson song learnt from Bryony Griffith.

Listen to the track ‘Fly Fishing’, featuring Scottish poet Jim Macintosh, taken from Hamish Napier’s new digital release An t’Each Uisge (The Water-Horse). It reflects on Jim’s childhood, and his father’s love hate relationship with fly fishing.

Featuring tunes from Cyril Cyril, Tom Rosenthal, Adrian Crowley, Damien Jurado, Kacy & Clayton, White Fence, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Big Thief, Simon Joyner, Joshua Burnside & Laura Quirke, Luluc, Laura Veirs, Buck Meek, Sam Burton, Herman Düne, Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures, Cate Le Bon, Micah P. Hinson, Thirty Pounds of Bone, Drakkar Sauna and Kevin Morby.

Featuring Juni Habel, Lauren Oxford, Sheila K Cameron, The Hermit, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Nat Brookes, Milkweed, Bill Callahan, Fiona Soe Paing, Rev Simpkins, Black Ox Orkestar, Nathan Salsburg, James Yorkston, Joseph Decosimo, Sunburned Hand of The Man, Denis Cassiere and more.

Listen to our Winter themed Folk Mixes and Playlists alongside some guest mixes we’ve featured over the years from Michael Tanner, Stephen Cracknell (The Memory Band), Salad Sound System and Nigel Spencer of Folk Police Recordings.

Here are our favourite Top 100 folk and alternative albums of the last 12 months, as voted for by our core writers.